It's January 20th and also a Sunday, so the festivities are delayed until tomorrow.

A White House statement said the only witnesses to [today's] Blue Room ceremony would be family members of the president, including his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Sasha and Malia.

I fantasize about a President who pares all ceremony down to the bare-bones, eliminates all extravagance, across the board. Take on the humble servant image, be a tightwad for the taxpayers, maintain a small carbon footprint, and say — implicitly and continually — the work of the President is gravely serious and never-ending. All Hostages Dead/Slaughtered in Sahara.

Obama seeks 'fuller understanding' of what happened in Algeria siege...

seeks fuller understanding?! How long will it take? or will it ever happen?

Let's see... an FBI investigative team will go to Algeria (because the administration thinks its a criminal matter) and will stay in the capital for at least two weeks before visiting the site of the attack because their safety can't be guaranteed.

Then, it will be another 134 days before the FBI director visits Algeria.

I share your fantasy, but most people who study government would say it's impossible, because the POTUS is both the head of state and the chief executive. That took me a while to understand when I was in college. Most Western/developed countries assign those roles to separate individuals. The UK Prime Minister runs things, but when a new ambassador from Whatwheristan shows up, he/she presents his/her credentials to Queen Elizabeth. Germany is even weirder; they have an elected "President" who mostly eats sausages and farts all day.

So anyway, our President has to serve a ceremonial role to satisfy the people. I don't think that can be avoided. People want a degree of pomp and circumstance.

I fantasize about a President who pares all ceremony down to the bare-bones, eliminates all extravagance, across the board. Take on the humble servant image, be a tightwad for the taxpayers, maintain a small carbon footprint, and say — implicitly and continually — the work of the President is gravely serious and never-ending.

If Obama wishes to gain a fuller understanding of the Algeria siege, he might start with today's Belmont Club, by Richard Fernandez. In a nutshell, it's a cultural and training thing. The Algerians were using Russian doctrine in dealing with hostage takers, and not Western doctrine.

I read the news about the dead hostages gave me a sense of dread. It reminded me of the Soviet tragedies and disasters -- submarines, mining, etc., where no extraordinary measures were extended, and thus fatalistic consequences ensued.

And still we have a President obsessed with being Lincoln or MLK. Tell me what is wrong with that picture.

I, Hussein, swear on this bitter clingers' bible to take their guns, when they rise in rebellion impose martial law, then fill my reeducation camps with the remnant that WILL NOT SUBMIT, so help me my brother in seething unappeasable revenge, Frantz Fanon.

And still we have a President obsessed with being Lincoln or MLK. Tell me what is wrong with that picture.

What?

Lincoln and MLK were assassinated.

Barack Obama claims the right to be an Assassin. Perhaps this should be considered palliative ObamaCare?

December 14, 2012, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued the following statement in response to U.S. officials’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the targeted killing of three U.S. citizens, including a 16-year-old boy, in Yemen last year:

The essence of the government’s argument is that it has the authority to kill Americans not only in secret, but also without ever having to justify its actions under the Constitution in any courtroom.

The president himself has acknowledged that the targeted killing program must be subject to more meaningful checks, but there is little evidence of that recognition in the brief filed by the government today. If the court accepts the government's position, it is not only the current president but every future president who will wield the power to kill any American he or she deems to present a threat to national security, without ever having to explain that action to a judge. The Constitution requires more."

The Algerians might be operating covertly under Obama's direction - and the slaughtering of all hostages would be in accordance with the practice of the Obama Administration.

I'll bet a bunch of the Al Qaeda types who just struck in Algeria were the same people who hit the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and exposed themselves to Spectre gunship fire out in the open but we didn't kill them when we had the chance.

Had this exact same event happened under a Republican president the media would be ripping the Republican president and Republicans a new asshole. The problem isn't who the media support, the danger is that the media do support a political philosophy and a party.

Not that what happened in Algeria is anything but an atrocity and a failure of foreign policy, but Drudge's headline is wrong. Just clicking the link tells a different story. The situation was closer to the Mumbai hotel siege, but of the hostages held at gunpoint, not all of them were killed. Drudge's point could be made without that headline.

Hardly a fantasy to imagine an inauguration being pared down to avoid unnecessary expense. It's happened!

In 1913, president-elect Woodrow Wilson cancelled the Inaugural Ball because he could not justify the $95,000 indirect cost to the government -- even though the government had just ended 1912 in the black, with "plenty of money":

You know it's a Third World rescue when most of the hostages die and all of the terrorists do. (No, I'm not going to use the politically correct term "militants"!) When the best you can say is, "well, not ALL of the hostages died," you know it was a complete and total clusterfuck.

I fantasize about a President who pares all ceremony down to the bare-bones, eliminates all extravagance, across the board. Take on the humble servant image, be a tightwad for the taxpayers, maintain a small carbon footprint